2,158 Shares in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Purchased by Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,158 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $123,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 4,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 50,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,478,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 39,857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,132,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $64.94 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.12 and a 200-day moving average of $56.73.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.